


Second Chance

by imaginethat57



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-02 03:17:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11500656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginethat57/pseuds/imaginethat57
Summary: After standing around for an hour--and finally realizing she's been blown off by her blind date, Regina goes to get a well-deserved drink. At the bar, she runs into a beautiful woman, and they hit it off.





	Second Chance

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you @Qym for the prompt!

Regina tapped the wood of the railing repeatedly, listening to the sound of her manicured nails drumming sharply on the lacquer. She checked her watch again; 8:37. She sighed, unconsciously moving her hand to her stomach and clutching lightly at the fabric of her burgundy dress.

She was positive she had gotten the right restaurant; she’d checked her phone numerous times to be sure of that. And they had agreed to meet in the front waiting area before stepping through the glass doors and officially entering the restaurant. And yet over an hour had passed, and her date was a no show.

She wasn’t sure why she was even so upset. It was just a blind date, she’d never met this woman that Kathryn had insisted she would hit it off with. She supposed it was the principle of the matter. The sheer rudeness and lack of consideration. Yes, she was indignant, not hurt. She certainly wasn’t feeling the aching sting of blatant rejection. She was Regina Mills, she wouldn’t allow herself to be so pathetic as to be upset about a blind date who couldn’t even bother to call her to cancel. Some kind of heathen this woman must be.

One thing was sure, she told herself, she was never letting Kathryn set her up again. And it would be a while before she was going to let her off the hook for this. Perhaps it was one of her more troublesome vices, but Regina could hold a grudge like few others.

Smoothing down the soft fabric of her beautiful dress, the one her date should be sorry to have missed seeing her in, she tore open the doors to enter the restaurant. The hostess who had been eyeing her with confusion for the past hour, who had even gone so far as to check on her at one point, watched her with wide eyes as Regina announced she was going to the bar.

With her chin held high and her armor up, she strode fiercely through the tables of the restaurant that lay between her and the bar. She marched up to the bar, gracefully perched on a stool, and waited for the bartender to notice her. It was only a matter of moments; she knew it wouldn’t take long. She commanded a presence, more so when she was mad. And she was furious. She didn’t like being made a fool, and anger was so much easier to latch onto than any kind of pain.

When the bartender looked her way, she ordered a dirty martini, extra vodka. She needed it tonight. The drink was placed in front of her shortly, and she took a small sip. She was aiming at achieving tipsy in a quick manner, but she certainly wouldn’t allow herself to look un-lady like by gulping her drink.

After a little time had passed, and many more dainty sips, Regina was starting to feel the faint buzzing sensation of the alcohol. She ordered another martini. Several men had approached her and been sent on their way. She was in no mood tonight.

“Rough night?”

A voice to her right startled her out of the trance like funk she had slipped into with her foul mood hanging over her like a cloud. She turned her head to see a woman, strikingly beautiful and athletically slim sitting next to her. Her blonde hair was curled and it cascaded down her shoulders. Her eyes were a bright green, and her skin a fair, creamy white. She wore a sleeveless, black leather dress that clung to her form in a very appealing manner. Her legs were long, covered in sheer black stockings. Her ankle high, slim heeled booties completed the look.

Regina smirked as she sized up the gorgeous woman, and she felt her mood shifting as she thought to herself that perhaps this woman would offer an opportunity to provide some stress relief tonight. She had no problem with her one night stands, casual sex to blow off steam when she needed it, but it was the reason Kathryn had tried to set her up on a real date tonight. She had gotten it into her head that Regina was lonely. A simply absurd notion as far as Regina was concerned, thoroughly ignoring the aches she sometimes felt in her large house, and her empty bed.

“You could say that.” Regina replied to the young woman, she estimated a few years her junior, perhaps late twenties.

“Me too.” The woman said as she grabbed a handful of bar peanuts and tossed them into her mouth.

Regina watched her, curious as to how this would play out. She raised her glass to her lips and took another demure sip. The blonde woman took her tumbler of what could have been scotch, whiskey, or bourbon, Regina didn’t know, and knocked it back.

“Evidently.” Regina remarked as the woman ordered another double bourbon.

The woman grinned, a self deprecating tinge coloring the expression, and shrugged. “So why is your night so shitty?”

Regina’s eyebrows rose at the slightly probing question, and the crude language. “I’m not quite sure that’s any of your business.” She replied, too proud to admit she’d been stood up.

The woman shrugged again, munched on some more peanuts, then turned a smile to Regina again and said, “I liked the way you handled yourself around those annoying dudes hitting on you. Sometimes I wish I could be that eloquent when I’m telling some skeeze to fuck off.”

“Yes well, I do aim to be a bit more refined.” Regina said, tipping her head with a small smile to acknowledge to compliment.

Emma laughed good naturedly, and said, “I can tell. Me, I’m probably about as refined as grocery store box wine.”

Regina didn’t respond, she didn’t know this woman well enough to really comment. She felt her stomach grumble loudly in that moment. She ignored it for the sake of politeness, but the blonde woman apparently felt no such compulsion toward manners.

She laughed again, then slid the bowl of peanuts over to Regina. “Eat those. You don’t want to be downing those martinis with nothing in your stomach.” As she spoke, she reached for a menu a few feet away. “And order something.”

“My, my. Such chivalry. Are you hoping to gain favor by feeding me?” Regina asked with a little edge at being told what to do.

The woman gave her a curious look and said, “Not everything has to have an ulterior motive. Maybe I just don’t feel like watching you drink yourself sick on an empty stomach.” She winked and said, “Maybe I’m just a nice person.”

Regina blinked. She didn’t quite have a response to a random act of care being sent her way. She opened the menu and her stomach growled again. She had to admit, it was a much better idea than to get sick. She ordered herself the bruschetta appetizer, and the stuffed mushroom caps as well.

The woman beside her seemed satisfied and she nodded seemingly to herself. Regina placed a peanut in her mouth and chewed, wrinkling her nose at the too salty flavor of it.

“So, why exactly was your night so rough that you feel the need to promote safe drinking practices in a random stranger?” Regina asked.

The woman shrugged again, and she evidently had no qualms about sharing the details of her night. “I was supposed to go on a date. But I chickened out. My boss set me up with her. Said she was a friend of hers. But I’m just a maid, and this woman is like some high powered, career type. Full of ambition. I don’t know what she’d see in me. So I snuck in the bar side entrance, and have been here all night.”

Realization was creeping up on Regina as to who this woman might be, but she played it cool for the moment. She spoke evenly and said, “Really? And you think you thought so little of this woman that she’d be concerned with details such as those?”

The woman seemed a little caught off guard for a moment, but then she gave what seemed to be her signature move, another shrug. “I don’t know. I guess it’s not really about that. I mean do people really care about jobs and class that much? Maybe they do, I don’t know. I know I don’t. I suppose it was more about not thinking I’d be good enough, regardless of what I do. Or what she does.”

As soon as the words were out of the woman’s mouth, she grew beet red. “Woah, that got deeply personal and depressing. Sorry, I think I’ve had too many of these.” She said, and she pushed the rest of her bourbon away.

“Tell me,” Regina said, “what is your name?”

The woman looked to Regina’s eyes, offered her hand to shake, and said. “I’m Emma Swan. Nice to meet you.”

Armed with the certainty of Emma being her no show blind date, Regina took the hand presented to her, shook it with perhaps a firmer grip than she needed, and said, “Well, Miss Swan, I believe your night has just begun.”


End file.
